Published scholar and KPU chemistry instructor Catherine Chow is being recognized with a Distinguished Teaching Award.
“I am incredibly honoured and humbled to have been selected for this award, and immeasurably grateful for the support of both students and colleagues. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be part of the community at KPU, where teaching and learning do not play second fiddle, but rather animate the university,” says Chow.
Chow began her career at KPU in 2013 as a chemistry lab instructor and in 2015 became a full-time instructor. She is a trained facilitator for the Instructional Skills Workshop, was an adjudicator for Student Aid and Financial Awards and worked as a peer reviewer for two NR1 faculty members.
She also serves as chemistry representative on the Science Faculty Council and Faculty of Science representative on the Senate Standing Committee on Teaching and Learning. In 2021, Chow took on an additional role as educational consultant for teaching excellence in science and horticulture.
“The core of my teaching philosophy is that teaching and learning are bidirectional. My students come to class to learn, but so do I,” says Chow. “One of the privileges of teaching is that it is a constantly evolving profession. Every group of students is different, and pedagogy continually advances.”
Chow uses the “Four R’s” of indigenous education — Respect, Relevance, Relationships, Responsibility — to guide her teaching.
“All have value in all educational settings,” says Chow. “Teaching is a challenging calling, but an infinitely rewarding one. I hope to inspire and challenge my students to reach their full potential, and work with my colleagues to develop ways to attain this goal.”
Chow believes students should have the chance to practise and implement their knowledge as tangible skills. Her active learning strategies are meant to encourage students to take responsibility for their own learning.
“Part of me is still a bit surprised that it was students from my organic chemistry class, a subject notorious for its difficulty, who got the ball rolling on my nomination,” says Chow.
Natsuki Kobayashi and Becky Curran are KPU students who led the work on nominating Chow for the award.
“I think she is an amazing instructor and one of the best teachers I've ever had in university,” says Kobayashi. “Her lectures are fun and engaging. She is always well prepared with group activities so the whole class can participate and learn together.
“I also love how she lays out her lecture notes.”
Curran also credits her love for chemistry to Chow's interactive lessons and student-centred teaching.
“Chemistry is not a subject I thought I would ever understand, and certainly not one I imagined that I could ever enjoy,” says Curran. "I strongly believe that I have become a better learner because of Chow's teaching, and if other students have been impacted in the same way, her net contribution to KPU could be exponential.”
While Chow says she has a responsibility to her learners to guide them through the material, teaching is not limited to simply building content knowledge.
“The most important lesson for any of my students to keep is not the difference between nucleophiles and electrophiles or the periodic trend of basicity. It's that you can learn hard things, and once you know that you can do anything.”